Explanation of the Rolls
I purchased a second hand copy of the above book, the 'Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls
preserved among the archives of the City of London at the Guildhall. 1413-1437 A.D.'.
Doesn't sound too exciting from the title,
but it is a fascinating transcript of happenings in the City of London at that time.
The Rolls noted the workings of the City authorities of the day
and are a mixture of legal matters (disputes over apprenticeships
or over trade deals) and matters which the local council
would nowadays be focused upon (pubs not serving proper measures,
pavements not properly maintained, dung left in the street!).
I am transcribing the list of the people named in the Rolls; these range from those
accused of misdeed to the accuser, those travelling overseas on business to visiting
merchants; in fact, all sorts of people, rich, poor and all in between.
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Some of the stories in the rolls are excellent and I have transcribed a few of my favourites further below. Most problems affecting the day-to-day lives of the fifteenth century inhabitants of London seem to be the same issues as affect their 21st century descendants. Some things never change...
To put things in context, the kings of the day were Henry V (1413-1422) and Henry VI (1422-1461). The Battle of Agincourt had just happened in 1415, and King Henry V had recently married Queen Catherine of Valois (1421).
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